Sunday, July 27, 2008

COMMENTS: You heard it here first: Clayton Kershaw is getting his first major league win today. The highly anticipated arm has seen his ups and downs this season, starting with a May call-up, a promising debut, and then a series of short stints and an overall 0-2 record that got Kershaw demoted again. His second promotion this season at Coors Field had the predictable outcome of walking into a buzzsaw, as Kershaw was shelled for 10 hits and five earned runs over three-plus innings. But today, Kershaw will climb the mountain. The Dodgers' bats are rolling, sparked by the addition of Casey Blake (2-for-3 last night with a double and a run scored), and an outstanding eight-inning one-hit outing by Derek Lowe kept the bullpen relatively rested. And for Pete's sake, it's the Nationals. Let's take the sweep here in LA, and hope that the Giants show up for a change and help us claw back into first.

Sometimes you can understand a team's motivations with the moves they make. But a lot of the things the Dodgers have done this year just don't make any damn sense. Pierre still batting leadoff? Getting rid of a superb catching prospect just to get a two-month rental on a third baseman, when we already had two at that position? Sweeney still having a place on a MLB team? I just don't know what they're thinking. I really don't.

I'd rather this team to have a mediocre season while giving the much needed playing time to the kids, than going to the playoffs through mediocre players who will not be in the team as soon as spring training.

In other news, Rick Monday is not in the booth today and it sounded like it was a little unexpected ("we hope he'll be joining us tomorrow," I think they said). Charley is doing an okay job alone in the booth on radio...hmm. They should have paired him with Karros or someone else just to test chemistry.